NELLY MUTTI DECLARES EZRA TEMBO OPPOSITION KINGPIN
…leaving the Kampyongo rebellion out in the cold
By DAVID KANDUZA
THE grand, high-domed chamber of the National Assembly was thick with anticipation on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, as Speaker Nelly Mutti adjusted her robes, gripped her gavel, and delivered the definitive stroke that ended weeks of bitter political warfare.
With the steady tone of an arbiter cutting through a heavy fog of internal rebellion, Speaker Mutti officially announced National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP) president Ezra Tembo as the recognised leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
For weeks, the opposition benches had resembled a divided house on the brink of collapse.
On one side stood the party’s central leadership, fiercely protective of its structural hierarchy.
On the other, a rebellious faction of parliamentarians who had gathered in the shadows of a Lusaka lodge on September 27, to defiantly elect Shiwang’andu MP Stephen Kampyongo to the very same seat.
Armed with conflicting sets of meeting minutes and clashing interpretations of Article 74(2) of the Constitution, both camps had claimed the crown.
But on Tuesday, the paper war of duelling press statements and disputed minutes met the absolute authority of the Speaker’s chair.
“Honourable Ezra Tembo is the recognised Leader of the Opposition in Parliament,” Dr Mutti announced, effectively rendering the Kampyongo minutes null and void in the eyes of the House.
To complete the new legislative command, the Speaker named Milenge MP Gystave Chonde as Party Whip, with Nyimba MP Paul Lungu stepping in as Deputy Party Whip.
The ruling brings immediate structural clarity to the National Assembly.
As the head of the largest opposition bloc in the House, Mr Tembo now carries the ultimate mandate to direct the opposition’s legislative strategy, coordinate fierce responses to Government policy and face down the ruling benches.
For Mr Tembo, who had repeatedly insisted that all 59 of his party’s lawmakers owe exclusive loyalty to his command, the announcement was an immense triumph over an internal mutiny.
For the backbench rebels who attempted to bypass the party structures, the Speaker’s ruling served as a stark reminder that in the grand theatre of Zambian politics, the party machinery still holds a formidable grip.
As the dust settles on this parliamentary showdown, Mr Tembo steps into the spotlight as the undisputed general of the opposition, but his first and most delicate task may well be managing the bruised egos and fractured loyalties within his own ranks.